Watch the World Burn: My Everything
by thebookworm214
Summary: Seb has a nightmare and Jim needs to comfort him. T for swearing and contemplative suicide trigger warnings. One-shot following "The Lost Chapters"


Watch the World Burn: My Everything

_**So, we thought we were done, but we must thank bondageluvr for this chapter. She asked for more from this Verse, and I have to say I was a bit inspired by her WIP 'Cor Cordis' (GO READ IT NOW!). So, my dear, this one is for you! As ever, I am indebted to my co-writer, ladyorvidae.**_

It was late. Very late. Jim was in his office working on some job that, while it was so dull it made him want to scream, was necessary. He scowled at the clock on his desk, the red lights making his eyes ache: three in the morning. All he wanted to do at this point was go crawl into bed beside Seb.

"_Love ya too, Bossman. I'll catch you on the flipside of this whole mess, have you all to myself and never share ever again."_

_"Righto, love. Catch you on the other side."_

_Official radio silence, Seb staring out the window waiting for Watson's cab to appear while he listens to Jim banter with the detective. Psh. His money is on his lover coming out on top of this whole thing, no problem... but then Sherlock starts laughing and Jim's voice changes. Something different there something... lonely? No, it's more sadness than anything..._

_**BANG**_

Jim started as he heard something coming from the room he and Sebastian shared. It sounded like... a whimper? He listened harder, straining his ears.

_Too much blood to be legal, everywhere, painting the roof, expressive brown eyes glassy and dead, mouth open in mock surprise, the gun still in his hand._

_Sebastian can feel his heart breaking and scattering to all the corners of the city._

"N-no... no _please_..."

Now he was certain. Jim stood, nearly knocking over his chair in his haste to rush to the bedroom. Seb was there, tangled in the sheets, his face screwed up into a frown, pale and sweating. The consulting criminal scrambled on to the bed next to him. "Seb... Sebby, my love," he said, gently shaking the sniper.

"_Don't leave me, Jim. You can't leave me now. I love you. I fucking love you. I'm nothing anymore without you. Jim, dear God..."_

"Come back... _James_... s-stop this... stop it now!"

Jim shook the man harder. "Seb... _Sebby_. Wake up. I'm here, love."

_"Requiem in pace, mi amor,"_

"NO!" Sebastian screamed, sitting bolt upright, arms outstretched and face screwed up in pain and loss. "No... not again..."

Jim slipped into the circle of Seb's outstretched arms, wrapping his own around the larger man's neck and shoulders and pulling him close. "I'm _here_, Tiger. I'm not leaving you," he murmured.

The dream slowly cleared, the sniper coming back into his mind and recognizing the man currently hugging him. "_James_," he whispered, slowly dropping his arms to the smaller man's back, hovering for just a second before hugging him tight, nosing his way between the collar of Jim's suit and his skin and breathing deep.

"Shhh, my Tiger, my love. I'm right here," he said softly, winding his fingers through the golden curls damp with sweat from the nightmare.

"You-dead-roof-blood-gone-alone-so _alone_-"

Releasing his right hand man, Jim opened his shirt and took Seb's large, calloused hand and pressed it over his heart. "Feel it, Seb. My heartbeat. I'm alive. I'm here."

Closing his eyes, Seb left his focus completely center on the pulse beneath his fingers, rubbing gentle circles against the pale skin. "_Why_ did you do that to me?"

"I'm sorry, my love, I had to. I had to go underground, make _everyone_ believe I was dead. Even you. If I didn't, we would have been caught."

"But I could keep the secret. You trust me. You are supposed to _trust_ me."

Jim sighed. "I do, Sebastian. I trust you with everything. But I had to. Too many variables. Sherlock had to do the same... leave his precious live-in pet."

Seb opened his eyes, pulling his hand away. "Your pet, that's what I am? Just a tame Tiger doing your every whim."

Jim scowled. "No. I called Sherlock's doctor _his_ live-in pet. You... you are infinitely more. My guardian, my lover, my warrior, my heart."

"I didn't want to live without you, Jimmy," the blonde said softly. "I thought a bunch over the years about... about doing it. Just pulling the trigger and finishing what you'd started on the rooftop."

The criminal swallowed hard and clutched tighter at his lover. "I'm glad you didn't," he said softly.

"You really are lucky you arrived when you did. I had decided it would really be that day. I'd- I'd be gone and the pain would stop and I thought I'd be with you."

Jim nuzzled into Seb's neck, drawing in his scent, focusing on the fact that his lover was alive and breathing before him. His treacherous mind suddenly gave him the image of Seb, eyes wide and glassy, gun still smoking in hand, brains splattered across the walls. He choked and had to take deep breaths to make the image vanish, his lover's living, breathing body against his own helping to dispel his own waking nightmares.

"I... I have something to ask you, Jimmy."

"Hm?"

"I was gonna that night and then... well, you know what happened. You'll have to let me go, though."

Reluctantly, Jim pulled away, wondering just what Seb was up to.

Reaching into his side table, Seb pulled out a box and got out of bed, kneeling on the floor. "Yeah, it's corny, but if I'm gonna do this, I'll fucking do it right. James Moriarty... the man who broke and fixed me, the man who came back, my Boss, my Magpie, my lover, my everything... will you... I want you to... fuck this shit, will you marry me?" he finally got out, eyes glazed with tears and opening the box.

Jim paused and blinked. "You great git..." he said softly, after a long pause. "Like you'd even have to _ask_."

"Of course I have to ask. It's _you_."

"You know my answer, but I expect you want to hear it. _Yes_, Seb."

Pulling the ring from the box, Sebastian took Jim's right hand and slipped the silver band with three blood-red stones set in it onto his finger; he'd had the ring set with two more gems after Jim's return, one ruby for each year he'd been gone. Jim swallowed hard, sniffling slightly. "Move away for a moment, Tiger-love..."

"Why?" Seb asked, standing and pulling away from the bed.

Jim reached into his shirt and brought out a fine chain that dangled from around his neck. He unclasped it and removed the ring that hung on it: warm gold set with a large tiger-eye gem, flanked by two smaller ones. "I had this made while I was away. Planned to ask you the day I got back, but, well..." he said quietly, holding it up as the metal caught the light. "Sebastian Moran, would you do me the very great honor of becoming my husband?"

The blonde's blue eyes widened as he dumbly held out his hand, words completely failing him; the piece was perfect, completely perfect down to the stone his lover... no, _fiancé_ had chosen. "_Yes_," he finally choked out, his voice very rough and laced with emotion.

Jim slid the ring over the sniper's right ring finger, where it sat in a perfect fit. He pressed a kiss to Seb's knuckles, holding his hand tightly.

"Jimmy... my Jim, my James, my Magpie, my _everything_," Sebastian whispered, clutching Jim's fingers as he started to cry again. "It's... god, it's f-fucking _gorgeous_."

"Not as gorgeous as the man in front of me right now," Jim said, smirking.

"Horn dog," he grumbled, unsuccessfully scrubbing the tears away with the back of his hand.

"I wasn't being a horn dog, you prat. I was calling you gorgeous, paying you a genuine compliment."

"Yeah, but your words always have multiple meanings."

"Well, this set of words has only one; Sebastian, I _love_ you. With all my heart and soul, all my mind and body, I love _you_."

A choked sob wrenching its way from his throat, Seb threw himself at Jim, pinning him to the bed and kissing him fiercely, holding him as close as he could manage and soaking their faces with his tears; Jim reciprocated, clutching at Seb tightly and returning the kiss with all the force he could muster.

When he could no longer breathe, Sebastian broke away, hovering just over Jim's mouth. "Why're you still dressed?" he asked, finally noticing Jim's clothes. "Wait- you're working? Jim, it's the middle of the fucking night!"

"More like very early morning, and I had to. Dull, but I had to," he said, scowling as he worked his shirt off.

"Yeah, that's right. Strip and get into bed or I'll never get you all the way better, you big idiot," he muttered, helping Jim off with his trousers and throwing them in a wadded up ball into a corner; the man was still just too _thin_.

Jim stripped down to his pants and snuggled under the covers, as much bare skin pressed to Seb as he could get. Sebastian gathered him in his arms, caging him in his embrace. "You aren't going _anywhere_ until morning."

Jim smiled, a truly contented expression. "And leave my warm bed and my fiancé? Like I'd do that," he said.

"For work you might. You didn't come to bed until I had a nightmare."

"As I said, it _had_ to get done. But I'm here now, and that's all that matters."

"Mmmmm. Love the way you smell, Jimmy. You- you smell like home," the sniper murmured, blushing.

His lover blushed as well. "And you feel like it," the consulting criminal murmured back. "In your arms... everything is right."

"Y're my ev'rything, Boss," Seb whispered, kissing the top of Jim's head and finally falling into a dreamless sleep.

"And you are mine," Jim whispered back before he followed his soon-to-be-husband into sleep.


End file.
